Class FlIO 
Book - Ka.7 



1 




A BEIEF 

DESCRIPTIVE AND STATISTICAL SKETCH 

OF 

GEORGIA, 

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: 

DEVELOPING ITS IMMENSE 

AGRICULTURAL, 
JBmms ant) iHamtfarturing attoantaflrsi, 

WITH 

REMARKS ON EMIGRATION. 

ACCOMPANIED WH 

A MAP 8? DESCRIPTION OF LANDS FOR SALE 

IN 

IRWIN COUNTY, STATE OF GEORGIA. 



BY Y 

RICHARD KEILY. 



ENTEBED AT STATIONS KS' H ALL, 



Eontion: 

PUBLISHED BY JAMES CAKRALL, 275, STRAND* 

AND SOLD BY ALL BOOKSELLERS. 

1849, 



141/9 



1898. 



t *\ 



A BRIEF 
DESCRIPTIVE AND STATISTICAL SKETCH 

OF 

GEORGIA, 

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, 



It must be apparent to all who have considered the condition and 
situation of the farmers, small tradesmen, and labouring classes of 
the United Kingdom, that the subject of Emigration has become 
one, not only of expediency, but of urgent necessity. The heavy 
burthen of a constantly increasing pauper class, and the circumstance 
that thousands, able and willing to work, but unable to procure it, are 
sinking down from independent labourers to swell the ranks of pau- 
perism, must startle the minds of all those who thoughtfully contem- 
plate the state of society. In fact, the institutions of the country cannot 
be secure while the base of the social edifice is thus unsound. It is 
right, then, that attention should be directed to those regions in various 
parts of the world where extensive districts of surpassing beauty and 
fertility invite the unemployed labour and unproductive capital of this 
country. Is it not, therefore, more in accordance with the designs of 
Providence that they should be brought into cultivation and become 
the habitations of an industrious and thriving population? It is cer- 
tain that millions of those who are now pining in want, and seeking 
in vain for employment, might there find occupation, plenty, and 
happiness. 

On the necessity of Emigration, as a relief to vast numbers in this 
country, there is scarcely a difference of opinion. The debate arises 



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as to the best means of carrying it on, and as to the fields moat suited 
for British enterprise and skill. Public opinion has already marked 
a decided preference for the United States, which has been strength- 
ened by the statement made by Earl Grey, in the House of Lords, 
February, 1849, recommending that emigrants should not proceed 
to Canada, but to the United States. When all circumstances are 
i drly balanced, there is no part of the world more inviting to emigrants 
of all classes. Over the vast American continent there is every 
variety of soil and climate; a people speaking the English language, 
adopting English habits, living under free institutions, and far ad- 
vanced in all the arts of civilized life. No nation in the history of 
the world ever attained such an eminence in so short a time, nor 
made such a rapid advance in arts, literature, and commerce. A large 
portion of that country is still unexplored, but there are known to us, 
and within twenty day's sail of England, some of the finest land in 
the world. These lands offer a home to the crowded denizens of our 
large towns, and a field for the employment of that energy which is 
prostrated by the fierce competition going on in this country. It is 
impossible to fix the mind upon this empire, so powerful, so prosperous, 
so fruitful, without seeing that it will become, and that very speedily, 
the great outlet for the superabundant population of the European 
states. 

The rapid growth and amazing resources of the United States 
may be gathered from a few general facts. We find from official 
documents that, in 1827, the tonnage of America was 1,620,000 tons; 
in 1847 it had increased to 2,840,000 tons. The assets in 1827 were 
82,000,000 dollars; and in 1847, 158,000,000 dollars. The coffee 
consumed in 1827 was 28,000,000 lbs.; in 1847, 150,000,000 lbs. 
Tea, in 1827, 3,000,000 lbs.; in 1847, 14,000,000 lbs. The growth 
of her cities has been equally remarkable. New York contained in 
1827, 170,000; in 1847, 500,000. Boston, in 1830, contained 44,000 
inhabitant; in 1847, 120,000. Then, with regard to population, 
there can be no fear of a redundancy for centuries to come. There is 
unlimited scope. If, for example, -the unlocated tracts of fertile land 
already explored in the neighbourhood o r navigable rivers were 



I 3 ) 

peopled as thickly as England is now, they would support a greater 
population than that of the whole of Europe. If we look again at the 
railroads, we find the like progression and expansion of power. Seven- 
teen years ago there were no railways; now, there are lines to the 
extent of 6,000 miles. Some few years ago there were no electric 
telegraphs; now, there are above 3,000 miles of this communication. 
We find, also, in her busy towns the growth of manufactures has kept 
pace with her other improvements, many of the articles vying with 
the best products of English skill. It is clear that these astonishing 
results could not be produced, except there was great energy, enter- 
prise, and power, both physical, moral, and intellectual. 

As yet, unfortunately, little is understood in this country of this 
magnificent continent and this truly great people. It is true that 
numerous works have been published, but with few exceptions they 
are the effusions of superficial and prejudiced observers. They dis- 
seminate a number of undefined ideas, unfavourable to American in- 
stitutions, and to America generally. It need not be said that the 
cultivation of such a feeling is highly injurious to the interests of this 
country; feelings of kindness and reciprocity ought to be extended to 
a people with whom our own interests are so closely intermingled. 
It is obviously the true interest of each nation- to cultivate the most 
friendly relations, and these can only be founded upon a thorough 
knowledge of each other, 

The fact that slavery is still tolerated and encouraged in some 
of the States is doubtlessly to be regretted, but the best way 
of breaking it down is by promoting by every fair means the 
introduction of a new population. It is well known that the pro- 
slavery feeling is declining in many of the States,* and the idea is 
becoming more diffused that free labour is the best, cheapest, and 
most satisfactory. The Americans are too shrewd a people not 
to perceive that strength and security are incompatible with the 



* Louisville, Kentucky, 4th Oct., 1848. — Extract of a letter from the Koman 
Catholic Bishop of CharlestowiK — "As to slavery, it will, it must, ere long, cease 
Such will be the inevitable course of tilings." 



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continuation of any injustice. At any rate, those who look on from 
this side of the Atlantic would do well to consider the best means of 
accomplishing the extinction of slavery, and that unquestionably is by 
the immigration of a fresh people. 

America will be the great field forJBmigrati on; but in consequence 
of the general ignorance of the United States, some strange mistakes 
have existed in relation to the climate. General conclusions have 
been drawn, founded, perhaps, upon what may be true of one locality. 
Throughout the States there is every variety of climate, soil, and pro- 
duction; some portions are known to be unhealthy, while others are 
suited to the European constitution, and well adapted to the successful 
cultivation of every kind of vegetation. There are rich mines, and in 
its rivers, and lakes, and tributary streams, advantages possessed by 
no other part of the world. 

The prejudices as to climate have more particularly existed in relation 
to the Southern States. Some portions of them have a tropical sun, 
others are sheltered by the mountains, or fanned by the breezes from 
the ocean. Few of them are more unhealthy than New York. We 
hear of the unhealthiness of Virginia, the Carolinas, and Georgia. In 
reference to these States I cannot do better than give a few extracts 
from a pamphlet, written by David Hoffman, Esq., a citizen of the 
United States, a gentleman of the highest legal acquirements, and 
whose knowledge of its climate and internal resources is most 
extensive*. — 

" There is an extremely common mistake in regard to climate, which 
ought to be, in limine, corrected. We hear of the want of health in 
many of the southern States — viz., Virginia, the Carolinas, and 
Georgia. This is quite true; the water-courses in those states are 
often decidedly so; but the error lies in this — the remark is only true 
in regard to the eastern section of those States respectively, and is 
wholly false if at all applied to the western sections. When you reach 
the hilly country and the fine valleys of that western portion, the 
climcte is not only entirely salubrious, but one of the most charming 
in the world. It may then be asked, why do not the Virginians, 
Carolinians, and Georgians themselves emigrate thither? The answer 



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Is at once at hand, and is various; at first, the inhabitants on the 
Atlantic border do very often establish their country cottages in the 
mountains and valleys of the western section of their States. There 
we find their watering-places, their mineral baths, their places of 
summer resort, and greatly in preference to the far north. Secondly: 
The Atlantic border was first settled, is now very populous, is full of 
lands adapted to tobacco, cotton, and rice — attractions, certainly, too 
strong to be overcome by a few autumnal months of possible bad 
health, for they become greatly acclimated. Thirdly: Such persons 
as are resident in the western portions of the Atlantic States 
know not the real value of the hills and mountains they inhabit; they 
know little of wool growing, of cattle raising, of cleaving down forests, 
of the solid packing of hay, &c, which would render these lands of 
great value to all who would thus deal with them. 

" The lands are fairly good, often excellent, abundant in game; 
sheep have no enemies of any kind, all dangerous wild beasts being 
utterly exterminated. Sheep and cattle need no housing in winter. 
Poultry could be raised in countless numbers; and very many sources 
of profit could be resorted to, and a ready market be had, were these 
hills and valleys peopled by an industrious and really experienced 
population." 

Again he says; — 

" It may also be stated, with some confidence too, that the very 
iow-priced lands do by no means necessarily imply very inferior 
lands; for, in Western Virginia, Georgia, the Carolinas, and in 
Eastern Tennessa, &c, lands at from 70 cents to 3 dollars might well 
be preferred to lands at any price, at all probable to be asked for 
them in the quite new States. United States Government lands, 
situate in remoter States, may seem very low at 1 dollar 25 cents, and 
they may be had in countless abundance; but the pioneer life they 
lead suits not the European emigrants, especially if with young families. 
And if the emigrant seeks Government lands in the somewhat new, 
but settled States, he will find them scarce, or inferior, or situate out 
of the way, and often the refuse, as being pretty thoroughly picked over. 
And in such States, if they desire to purchase entered lands, they, if 



(«1 

at all good, will range from 4 dollars 50 cents to 8 dollars, unless in 
some special cases, arising from special cause, none of which, however, 
may come to the cognizance of the emigrant." 

I cannot refrain from adding the following extract, also, from Mr. 
Hoffman's pamphlet: — 

" It really surprises me much to see wealthy men, though still 
anxious to grow more so, yet looking to two-and-a-half or three per 
cents., or possibly five or six percent., when, by only a little enterprise 
and judicious management, ten or twenty times that amount has been 
and could be realized in terra firma i unaffected by those numerous 
risks necessarily attendant upon commerce; and when, also, at 
the same time, they may effect a great blessing to the cause of 
humanity by converting good or rich lands from a wilderness 
condition into territories flourishing in population, in agricultural 
riches, in thriving hamlets, towns, and cities! In the year 
1816, I beheld an aged man of wonderful enterprise, ordering 
the cleaving-down of a forest for the laying-out of a town. Thousands 
of stumps of trees were there — vines, and bushes, and brambles were 
yielding to the knife and scythe — hundreds flocked there — small houses 
arose, as if by magic — and now, in 1847, there is a wealthy popula- 
tion of quite fifty thousand. But no log or wooden house is there to 
be seen — stately brick or granite buildings abound, lofty fire-proof 
warehouses, sumptuous mansions, beautiful Churches, solid bridges, 
well-paved streets, gas-lights in abundance, and, in all varieties, 
drays, carts, carriages, &c, enliven this scene of wonderful prosperity ; 
and that is the town of Boch ester ; and nearly the same may be said 
of very many other towns. These things are so — they are facts not 
to be controverted — and the statistics of the United States, in respect 
to population, railroads, canals, turnpikes, the growth of towns, the 
development of mineral wealth, such as coal, iron, copper, lead, and 
even gold and silver (not to mention lime, clay, the manufacture of 
bricks from the mere clay, by steam pressure), were those statistics, 
I say, carefully collected, they could not fail to unfold sources 
of solid w r eulth, and reveal to an admiring world no causes of 
narrow jealousy, but ample reasons for lively gratitude to Providence/ 



m 

and of earnest dedication to them all, so that they may be made abun- 
dantly available in the general cause of humanity, whilst they greatly 
extend the individual means of sterling wealth to themselves, and of 
diffusing over the wide surface of the new world the too dense and 
sometimes impoverished population of the old world ; and that this 
would prove a signal blessing to both, who can doubt ?" 

* * * * * * * 

It being my object more particularly to direct attention and to pro- 
mote Emigration to the State of Georgia, the portion of which I have 
on sale being highly eligible as a settlement for that cla s of persons 
which have been referred to — persons with small means, who find 
great difficulties in this country and wish to lay the basis of future 
independence in another, I think it right, and in fact essential for their 
satisfaction and information, to lay before them the following official 
statement given from the Report of John Maegregor, Esq., M.P. for 
Glasgow, presented to both Houses of Parliament by command of 
Her Majesty: — 

Georgia is bounded north by Tennessee and North Carolina; north- 
east by South Carolina; east by the Atlantic; south by Florida; and 
west by Alabama. It is between 30 deg. 30 min. and 35 deg. north 
latitude, and between 80 deg. 50 min. and 86 deg. 6 min. west longi- 
tude, and between 3 deg. 52 min. and 8 deg. 47 min. west from Wash- 
ington. It is 300 miles long from north to south, and 240 miles broad 
from east to west, The area of this state comprises about 58,000 
square miles, or 37,120,000 British statute acres. The population 
in 1790, was 82,584; in 1800, 162,686; in 1810, 252,433; in 1820 7 
348,989; in 1830, 516,567; in 1840, 691,392, of which 280,944 were 
slaves. There were, in 1840, employed in agriculture, 209,283; in 
commerce, 2,428; in manufactures and trades, 7,984; mining, 574; 
navigating the ocean, 262; navigating canals, rivers, &c.,352; learned 
professions, 1,250. 

Soil and Agriculture. — For an average of about seven miles 
distance from the main land, the sea islands, intersected by inlets, 
communicating with each other, form a well-sheltered inland naviga- 



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tion for vessels of 100 tons burden, along the whole coast. These 
islands consist of salt marsh, and land of a gray rich soil, which pro- 
duces the well-known sea -island cotton. The natural growth of this 
soil is pine, hickory, and live oak. The part of the State above the 
falls of the rivers is called the Upper country, and has generally a 
strong and fertile soil, often inclining to a red colour, and further 
back, mixed with a deep black mould, producing cotton, tobacco, 
Indian corn, wheat, and other kinds of grain. Black walnut and mul- 
berry trees grow abundantly in this soil. The forests also produce 
oak, pine, hickory, and cedar. The fruits are melons, figs, oranges, 
pomegranates, olives, lemons, limes, citrons, pears, and peaches. The 
pine-barrens produce grapes of a large size and excellent flavour. The 
country on the north, near the boundary of Tennessee, becomes 
mountainous. 

Live Stock and Agricultural Products. — In this State there 
were, in 1840, 157,540 horses and mules; 884,414 neat cattle; 267,107 
sheep; 1,457,755 swine; poultry to the value of 449,623 dollars. 
There were produced 1,801,830 bushels of wheat; 12,979 bushels of 
barley; 1,610,030 bushels of oats; 60,693 bushels of rye; 20,905,122 
bushels of Indian corn; 371,303 lbs. of wool; 19,799 lbs. of wax; 
1,211,366 lbs. of potatoes; 16,969 tons of hay; 10 tons of flax and 
hemp; 162,894 lbs, of tobacco; 12,384,732 lbs. of rice; 163.392,396 
lbs. of cotton; 2,992 lbs. of silk cocoons; 329,744 lbs. of sugar. The 
products of the dairy were valued at 605,172 dollars; and of the 
orchard, 156,122 dollars; of lumber, 114,050 dollars. There were 
made 8,647 gallons of wine. The staple commodities are cotton and 
rice, of which great quantities are exported. — Official Returns. 

Minerals. — Copper and iron have been found in this State, and 
there are several valuable mineral springs, but much the most valuable 
mineral production is gold, which is found in the north part of the 
State, inconsiderable quantities. — U. S. Gaz. 

Trades. — In 1840, there were four commercial and eighty-two 
commission houses engaged in foreign trade, with a capital of 1,543,500 
dollars; 1716 retail dry-goods and other stores, with a capital of 
7,361,838 dollars; 442 persons were employed in the lumber trade, 



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with a capital of 75,730 dollars; 194 persons were employed in inter- 
nal transportation, who, with seventeen butchers, packers, &c, em- 
ployed a capittil of 12,885 dollars. 

Manufactures. — In 1840, the value of home-made or family goods 
was 1,467,630 dollars. There was one woollen manufactory employ- 
ing ten persons, producing articles to the value of 3,000 dollars, with 
a capital of 2,000 dollars; nineteen cotton factories, with 42,589 
spindles, employing 779 persons, producing articles to the value of 
304,342 dollars; employing a capital of 573,835 dollars; fourteen 
furnaces, producing 494 tons of cast iron, employing forty- one persons, 
and a capital of 24,000 dollars; 130 smelting houses employed 405 
persons, and produced gold to the value of 121,881 dollars, with a 
capital of 79,343 dollars; fifty-five persons maufactured hats and caps 
to the value of 22,761 dollars, with a capital of 7,950 dollars; 132 
tanneries employed 437 persons, and a capital ot 127,739 dollars; 102 
other leather manufactories, as saddlers, &c, produced articles to the 
value of 123,701 dollars, with a capital of 60,932 dollars; six potteries, 
employing twelve persons, produced articles to the value of 2,050 
dollars, with a capital of 790 dollars; 184 persons produced machinery 
to the value of 131,238 dollars; nineteen persons produced hardware 
and cutlery to the value of 7,866 dollars; 555 persons produced bricks, 
and lime to the value of 148,655 dollars; 2,633 persons made 764,528 
lbs. of soaps, and 111,066 lbs. of tallow candles, with a capital of 
27,126 dollars; 393 distillers produced 126,746 gallons, which, with 
twenty-two breweries, employed 218 persons, and a capital of 28,606 
dollars; 461 persons manufactured carriages and waggons to the value 
of 249,065 dollars, with a capital of 93,820 dollars; 114 flouring mills 
produced 55,158 barrels of flour, and, with other mills, employed 
1,581 persons, producing articles to the value of 1,268,715 dollars, 
with a capital of 1,491,973 dollars; ninety-five persons manufactured 
furniture to the value" of 49,780 dollars, with a capital of 29,090 dol- 
lars; thirty-eight brick or stone houses, and 2,591 wooden houses, 
were built by 2,274 persons, at a cost of 693,116 dollars; twenty-four 
printing offices, and five binderies, five daily, five semi-weekly, and 
twenty-four weekly newspapers and six periodicals, employed 157 



persons, and a capital of 134,400 dollars. The whole value of capital 
employed in manufactures was 2,899,565 dollars. — Official Returns. 

Climate. — The climate of Georgia is generally mild. In the low 
country it is unhealthy during the months of July, August, and Sep- 
tember, excepting portions of the islands ; but the Upper country is 
salubrious and healthy. Snow is seldom seen, and cattle subsist with 
very little food but what they obtain from the woods and savannas. — 
U. S. Gaz. 

Rivers. — The rivers are — the Savannah, 600 miles long, bounding 
the State on the north-east, navigable for ships seventeen miles to Sa- 
vannah, and a part of the year for steamboats, 250 miles to Augusta; 
the Altamaha, which is navigable for large vessels, twelve miles, to 
Darien, is formed by the j unction of the Oconee and the Ocmulgee, 
and is navigable for sloops of thirty tons, by the former, to Dublin, 
300 miles from the ocean; the Ogeechee, 2C0 miles long, and naviga- 
ble for sloops for forty miles ; Flint river, which rises in the north- 
west part of the State, and, after a course of more than 200 miles, 
joins the Chattahoochee, forming the Appalachiocola; the Chatta- 
hoochee, on the west border of the State, which is navigable 300 
miles by steamboat to Columbus ; the St. Mary's river, in the 
south-west part of the State, rises in Okefinokee swamp, and is 
navigable seventy miles for vessels drawing fourteen feet of water. 
Okefinokee swamp is about 180 miles in circumference, and has 
within it several fertile islands. — U. S. Gaz. 

Education. — The University of Georgia is located at Athens, 
and is designed to have an academic branch in each county. A 
few only of these have been opened. It w r as founded in 1788, 
and has been well endowed. In this institution and its branches 
there were in 1840, 622 students. There were in the State 176 
academies or grammar schools, with 7,878 students; and 601 com- 
mon or primary schools, with 15,561 scholars. There were 30,717 
free white persons, over twenty years of age, who could neither 
read or write. 

Religion.— The Baptists, Methodists, and Presbyterians are the 
most numerous religious denominations. In 1835, the Baptists had 



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583 churches, 298 ministers, and 41,810 communicants; the Metho- 
dists, 80 travelling preachers, and 25,005 white, and 8,436 coloured 
communicants ; the Presbyterians, To churches, 45 ministers, and 
4,882 communicants; the Episcopalians, four ministers; the Protes- 
tant Methodists, 20 congregations, and 15 ministers. Besides these 
there were a number of Christians, Roman Catholics, Lutherans, 
Scotch Presbyterians, Friends, and Jews. 

Banks. — In 1840, this State had thirty-seven banks and branches, 
w T ith an aggregate capital of 15,119,219 dollars, and a circulation of 
3,017,348 dollars. At the close of 1840, the state debt amounted to 
500,000 dollars. 

Public Works. — This State has several important works of in- 
ternal improvement. The Savannah and Ogeechee canal extends 
sixteen miles, from Savannah to Ogeechee river, completed in 1829, 
at an expense of 1 65,000 dollars. The Brunswick canal extends from 
tide water on the Altamaha, twelve miles to Brunswick, at a cost of 
500,000 dollars.— ? 7 ". S. Gaz. 

The Georgia railroad extends from Augusta, 165 miles, to De Kalb 
county. The Athens branch extends from the Georgia railroad 
thirty-three miles to Athens. Cost of the whole, including the Athens 
branch, 3,300,000 dollars. The Western and Atlantic railroad con- 
tinues the Georgia railroad from the De Kalb county, 140 miles, to 
Chattanooga, on Tennessee river, at a cost of 2,130,000 dollars. The 
Central railroad extends from Savannah, 197 miles, to Macon, esti- 
mated to cost 2,300,000 dollars. The Monroe railroad extends from 
Macon, 101 miles, to Whitehall. The Ocmulgee and Flint river 
railroad, seventy-six miles in length, is designed to connect the navi- 
gable waters of these rivers, so as to form a communication from the 
Atlantic to the Gulf of Mexico. 



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PRINCIPAL SEAPORTS AND TOWNS. 

Augusta is situated on the south-west side of Savannah river, 
ninety-six miles from Milledgeville, 120 miles north-west from 
Savannah. Population, in 1830, 4,000; in 1840, 6,403. It is 
regularly laid out, and built chiefly of brick. The streets cross each 
other at right angles, and are ornamented w ith trees. It has a city 
hall, court house, gaol, theatre, arsenal, hospital, and a female asylum; 
seven churches — one Baptist, one Episcopal, one Methodist, one 
Presbyterian, one Roman Catholic, one Unitarian, and one African. 
It is connected with Charleston and Milledgeville by railway. The 
back country is fertile. Its trade is active, and it sends a great 
amount of cotton, tobacco, and other produce., down the river to 
Savannah. In 1840, it contained twelve commission houses in 
foreign trade, capital 245,000 dollars; 265 stores, capital 1,281,870 
dollars; two furneces, two printing offices, two daily, four weekly, 
two semi-weekly newspapers, and two periodicals. Capital in 
manufactures, 44,500 dollars. — Official Returns, U. S. Gaz. 

Columbus, situated on the banks of the Chattahoochee river, at 
the head of steamboat navigation; immediately below the falls on the 
river, which descends 111 feet in a distance of four miles above. It 
is situated 300 miles above the junction of the Chattahoochee with 
Flint river, and 430 miles above Appalachiocolo bay. The river, 
under the falls, is only 354 feet wide, below which it widens to 250 
yards. The town is elevated sixty feet above the ordinary height of 
the river, and covers 1,200 acres. Two streets running parallel with 
the river, are 165 feet wide; six others are 132 feet wide. These 
are intersected by twelve other streets, at right angles, which are 
ninety-nine feet wide. It contained, in 1840, a court house, gaol, 
market house, five churches — one Presbyterian, one Episcopal, one 
Baptist, one Methodist, and one Roman Catholic -100 stores, about 
700 dwellings. There is a flouring mill, and various mills and 
manufactories on the river. From thirteen to fifteen steamboats 
navigate the river, and steamboats ply to New Orleans. A steamboat 



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drawing five feet of water can ascend this place at any season. A 
bridge from the town crosses the Chattahoochee river to the opposite 
bank in Alabama. Population, in 1842, about 4,000. There were, 
in 1840, six foreign commission houses, capital 80,000 dollars; 106 
retail stores, capital, 473,000 dollars; three printing offices, three 
weekly newspapers, and one periodical. Capital in manufactures, 
39,800 dollars. Population, 3,114. — Official Returns, U. S. Gaz. 

Darien, situated on the north side of the Altamaha river, twelve 
miles above the bar, at the entrance of St. Simond's sound, It con- 
tains a court house, a gaol, an academy, a Presbyterian church, a 
bank, and a printing office. It has an extensive trade in cotton. The 
bar has over it fourteen feet depth of water. The Oconee branch of the 
Altamaha has a steamboat navigation to Milledgeville; and the 
Ocmulgee branch is navigable to Macon ; so that Darien forms the 
focus of the trade of the central parts of the State. 

Macon, situated on the west side of the Ocmulgee river, at the 
head of tide navigation. A great quantity of cotton wool is shipped 
at this town; and about twelve steam- vessels, and several tow-boats, 
&c, employed in the trade. In 1822, there was only one hut in this 
place. In 1840, there were nine foreign commission houses, capital 
75,000 dollars; eighty-two retail stores, capital 785,000 dollars; nine 
timber yards, building yards, &c. Population, 3,927. 

Milledgeville, situated on the south-west bank of the Oconee 
river, at the head of steam-boat navigation ; had, in 1840, a population 
of 2,095 inhabitaats, and some trade. 

Savannah, port of entry, is situated on the south-west bank of 
the Savannah river, seventeen miles from its mouth, in 32 deg. 8 
min. north latitude, and 81 deg. 10 min. west longitude from 
Greenwich, and 4 deg. 10 west from Washington. It is 118 miles 
south-west from Charleston; 123 miles south-east from Augusta; 
158 miles east- south-east from Milledgeville; 662 miles south-by- 
west from Washington. The population, in 1810; was 5,195; in 1820, 
7,523; in 1830, 7,776; in 1840, 11,214— of which 4,694 were 
slaves. There were employed in commerce, 604; in manufactures 
and trades, 707; navigating the ocean, canals, &c, 241; learned 
professions, 13 L 



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The city is built on a sandy plain, elevated about forty feet above 
the level of the tide. It was formerly considered unhealthy, sup- 
posed to arise chiefly from the rice grounds in the neighbourhood. 
On this supposition the citizens subscribed 70,000 dollars to induce 
the owners of the plantations to substitute a dry for a wet cultivation, 
by which the health of the place is said to have been much improved. 
This city is regularly laid out in the form of a parallelogram, with 
streets, many of them wide, crossing each other at right angles. There 
are ten public squares, containing two acres each, at equal distances 
from each other. These squares, and many of the streets, are bor- 
dered with trees, and particularly with the " Pride of India." Many 
of the houses are built of brick. On the east and west are marshes; 
and a pine-barren extends two miles to the south. 

It has a good harbour. Vessels drawing fourteen feet of water 
come up to the wharfs of the city, and larger vessels come up to 
Fathom hole, three miles below. The city is defended by Fort 
Wayne on the east side, and by Fort Jackson at Fathom hole, three 
miles below. Much of the trade of Georgia centres in Savannah — 
the principal articles of which are cotton and rice. Twenty steam- 
boats of a large size, and fifty steam tow-boats, navigate the river. 
On Tybee island, at the mouth of the river, is a lighthouse. 
One line of packets, consisting of two ships and four brigs, one 
vessel sailing from each place weekly — and another, consisting of six 
brigs, ply between this place and New York. The Savannah fur- 
nishes gceat facilities for internal trade, and this river is connected to 
the Ogeechee by a canal sixteen miles long, which terminates at 
Savannah. — U. 8. Gaz. 

There are an exchange and two banks. The tonnage of the port, 
in 1840, amounted to 17,930. There were, in the same year, two 
foreign commercial and fifty commission houses, with a capital of 
943,500 dollars; 191 retail stores, capital 855,190 dollars; eight 
lumber yards, capital 49,000 dollars; paints, drugs, &c, capital 
35,800 dollars; three brick and forty -five wooden houses built, cost 
138,100 dollars; four printing offices, two binderies, three daily, three 
weekly, three semi-weekly newspapers, capital 22,000 dollars. Total 
capital in manufactures, 105,460 dollars. — Official Returns. 



07) 



DESCRIPTION OF THE LANDS IN IRWIN COUNTY, 
STATE OF GEORGIA. 

To the preceding remarks I beg to append the following 
detailed Reports from General Brisbane, with reference to the 
lands for sale in Irwin County, State of Georgia; reports which I 
confidently submit to the perusal of every unprejudiced reader. 
****** 

The above Lands lie between 31 and 32 degrees North: — distant 
from the sea about 100 miles, and from England 18 or 20 days' sail. 
Climate delightful, and locality healthy; bounded by the navi- 
gable rivers, the Flint and the Ocmulgee; by the former a com- 
munication is open with the Gulf of Mexico; and by the latter (the 
Ocmulgee) which falls into the Alatamaha, a direct communication 
is open to the Atlantic Ocean. 

A railroad has been commenced which will connect the Ocmulgee 
and Flint Rivers, and open a transit for freight and passengers from 
the Atlantic Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico; avoiding the tedious and 
hazardous voyage around the Cape of Florida. The works on this 
railroad have been suspended, in consequence of the financial crisis 
of 1845, although two-thirds finished, at a cost of 300,000 dollars; 
but as the project is a favourite object with the Government of the 
State, and its completion of the utmost importance to the surrounding 
country, there is no doubt of its being eventually carried out. 
In addition to the foregoing, I beg to add the following description of 

the Lands, taken from the letter of General Brisbane, U. S., dated 

Charleston, 2lst August, 1848: — 

" In the first place, these lands lie within the State of Georgia, 



(18) 

and upon the broad tabic situated between the waters of the Ocmulgoe 
and Flint Rivers, opposite to where they diverge respectively to the 
Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico. 

" In the second place, the elevation of this district is some 250 feet 
above the level of the above-mentioned rivers, and some 400 feet 
above that of the Atlantic Ocean. 

" In the third place, its surface is sufficiently rolling, from the fact, 
that the lesser streams of Georgia, which make into the Gulf of 
Mexico, take their rise in this section of the State, and from their 
equality in length, present a pretty semicircle of country for a dis- 
tance of some sixty miles, upon which these lands lie. 

" In the fourth place, the growth of this section of the State of 
Georgia is pi?ie } as it belongs to a region situated below the primitive 
formation. 

" In the fifth place, its soil is composed of silex, clay and lime; the 
siliceous quality generally prevailing, but in very few cases to such 
an extent as to prevent the most satisfactory returns to a system of 
judicious husbandry. There are no swamps. 

" In the sixth place, the climate is salubrious, as seen in its eleva- 
tion of 250 feet above the tertiary country that lies beyond it. This 
is proven also by the uninterrupted health of an hundred and odd 
Irish families, who were employed for three years on the railroad 
projected through it, with the view to unite the trades of the Oc- 
mulgee and Flint rivers above-mentioned; or rather, that of the 
Atlantic with the trade of the Gulf. 

"In the seventh place, the production of this district of the United 
States are various:— the Indian corn, oats, rye, wheat, rice, the sweet 
potatoe, Irish potatoe, the ground and bush pea, with beans of all 
descriptions, will furnish the grain crop in abundance— the sugar- 
cane, cotton, multicahs, and grape wine, the crop for market. For 



(19) 

meats, every variety of animal; and for vegetables and fruits, the 
country is peculiarly adapted. 

"In the eighth place, the situation of country will expose the 
occupant to all the difficulties of a new settlement. The lands are 
in their natural state; but being jree from undergroivth, are brought 
rapidly into tilth, the plough being applied to them in the first 
year. The pine tree dies by being simply girted; and, by decay, 
is out of the way of the crop before maturity. 

" In the ninth place, the profit to which the occupant may direct 
his labour. In addition to the plant od crop, is the turpentine that 
the pine yields in great abundance, and little or no outlay of 
capital to prepare it for a ready market. 

"In the tenth place, where capital is possessed, an equally easy 
method of adding to the production, would be, to stock the un- 
* cultivated land with sheep, the natural grasses forming their pas- 
turage through the year." 

1 beg further to add the following particulars, extracted from a 
letter of General Brisbane's, dated Charleston, 5th January^ 
1849:— 

" Period of Winter, — from November to April: — varies from 60 
to 30 degrees; oftener ranging upon the higher degree. Summer 
varies from 60 to 90 degrees, 

"Stock: — Horses, 30 to 75 dollars; an Ox, 12 dollars j Cow 
and Calf, 10 dollars; Cow, 6 dollars; a Sheep, 1^ dollars; Pig, 

2 dollars. 

"Agricultural labourer, 1 dollar per day. 
"Note — a dollar in our money is about 4s» 2d*' 5 



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DETAILED REPORT 

or 

GENERAL BRISBANE, 

Dated June 30, 1849. 
ADDRESSED TO RICHARD KEILY, ESQ. 



Charleston, So. Co. June 30, 1849. 

Sir,— Mr. Northrop has sent me certain letters touching the settle- 
ment of certain lands owned by us in Irwin Co., Georgia, now in your 
hands for sale. I have read them over with care, and, at his request, 
answer them, as best acquainted with the conditions of the case. It 
is the first time that I have had the pleasure of addressing you 
directly, and you must therefore excuse me if I place my views 
touching these lands in Georgia, upon such a footing as will satisfy 
you clearly, not only as to their value, but of the prominent po- 
sition which they occupy in any scheme of colonization that shall 
have force in the Southern portion of the United States. The best 
plan that I can devise for this purpose is, to go to the history of the 
purchase on our part, and the various opinions had on it upon this 
side of the water, long before we thought of offering it in the Euro- 
pean markets. For the truth of this history and these opinions, 
you must of course trust to my veracity. In the year 1840, the State 
of Georgia had voted an appropriation of 3,000,000 dols. to cut her 
way through the Alleghany Mountains to the Great Valley of the 
Mississippi; her citizens expending some 3,000,000 to 4,000,000 dols. 
more, to accomplish this great end. Having been engaged by the 



(21) 

State of Georgia for the location of her portion of this great Western 
and Atlantic Railway, and having for some three years more been em- 
ployed by her as co7istructing engineer, I became fully acquainted 
with her great resources as a State, and her peculiar importance, as 
the thoroughfare of the other States of the South in their way, not 
only to the Valley of the Mississippi, but to the other Southern States, 
to wit, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, &c. I no sooner found then, 
that the great State Road was secured, than I engaged myself, with 
several of the leading men of Georgia and South Carolina, to open, by 
private enterprise, a route to the Western Rivers of the above States, 
intersecting these rivers at their heads of steam navigation, or, to use 
the language of the great Engineer, Bernard, who examined the sub- 
ject beiore me, at the point, where the line, separating the black labour 
from the white labour of the South, must intersect these rivers, or, in 
other words still, and still more explicit, where the primitive country 
falls off into the secondary country of the south. We raised a Com- 
pany of 300,000 dols. and commenced operations on the Ocmulgee 
and Flint Railroad, — securing a Charter for this purpose which had 
been granted years before under the direction of General Bernard, 
above referred to, but which Charter, from the delay of the Indians 
to leave the country, had not been taken advantage of. I have said 
that this operation commenced in 1840. You will remember that, 
at this time, everything was prosperous in the South; cotton held 
at 12 to 15 cents per pound, and railroad enterprise was exhibiting its 
powerful influence everywhere. In 1841, a general prostration pre- 
vailed in every department of industry; — cotton fell to 5 cents per 
pound, and the planters of our Company ceased payment on railroad 
stock. It was at this juncture that every means were resorted to, 
by which our roads could push forward, and a favourite one, working 
out subscriptions of stock by labour, and where the labour was free, 
working for the stock itself. 

While engaged in bringing our slave-holding subscribers to this 
State of things, I came in contact with many white labourers, who had 
been acquainted with me upon the State road above, referred to, and 
who were now thrown out of employment, and they were willing to 



(22) 

undertake with the company for stock, if the then Bishop England, of 
the Charleston Diocese would guarantee the value of the stock and 
validity of the Company. 

After a consultation with Bishop England, which lasted for three 
days, and when the minutest examination was had into the state of 
affairs, the guarantee on his part was given on the condition that a 
white man should be provided, with his free labour, for every black 
man who should be furnished by his master in place of the instal- 
ments which he owed on his stock. This arrangement was had, and 
the work in a short time, presented an operation through its entire 
extent (77 miles) in which one hundred whites, (Irish) and one 
hundred blacks were employed. For two years we pushed forward 
in handsome style, not a case of disaffection on the part of the whites 
— not a case of sickness , where their wives and families were with them ? 
during the whole time, — not an instance of doubt as to the successful 
termination of the enterprise, took place to derange our plans. At 
this juncture, the State of Georgia determined to bring her vacant 
lands into market at a descending scale of prices, and the first thing we 
knew was the employment of persons, who acted for the Capitalists of 
the State, in tracing out our line of railroad, thereby locating on the 
map of the country those lots which lay contiguous to the railroad, 
and particularly those through which it passed. You may easily 
imagine the state into which it threw us. We had been then two 
years in the country, (the Irishmen and myself,) — we had become 
perfectly acquainted with its character, and had fully arranged to 
locate ourselves for life upon it. We had been working for stock, 
and therefore had no common fund that we could put in for a 
purchase from the State, and we knew the devouring character of 
the land speculators upon our heels, who would have purchased from 
the State, and then made us expend our whole road, or our interest in 
its stock for the fee simple. It was then that our mind was made 
up. I had the map prepared by my assistant engineers, a copy of 
which, Bishop Eeynolds has furnished you, and with it hastened to 
Charleston to Bishop England, to raise if we could the funds necessary 
i» the purchase. On my arrival in Charleston, I found Bishop 



(23) 

England, the father of the whole works, as we then regarded him, on his 
bed of death. Disappointed in the aid of this great man, I had a 
meeting of Dr. Bellinger and the two Messrs. Northrop, and by our 
joint means procured such funds as we thought would at least secure 
the lands through which the road passed. One of the Messrs. 
Northrop (the Dr.) accompanied me back to Georgia to examine in 
person the character of the lands and determine the price we should 
give. Knowing, as I before stated, that the capitalists of Georgia 
were on our track, I took the precaution of visiting the seat of 
Government in person, and finding that, if I suspended purchase 
until the lands fell to the minimum, I should lose all; I at once laid 
out two-thirds of our fund at the then price; — securing the right of 
way at least, and enough for a handsome estate for each of my men 
to settle upon for life. I waited to the last to contest for the minimum 
prices. The report in the meantime got abroad that I had purchased 
up all that was in the neighbourhood of the road, and when the rate 
fell to the minimum, a friend, whom I had at the seat of Government, 
immediately seized the advantage which this report produced, and 
purchased up to the full amount of our remaining funds. We now 
owned, not only our road, but a handsome district of country. 

For a year more we struggled on, Sir, and against every other 
obstacle, promised fair to achieve our object. But a road of seventy- 
odd miles is not easily graded, built, and provided with horse cars 
even, on mere stock payments. Our expenditures began to increase 
upon us, and the situation of our cotton planters not improving, extra- 
ordinary means, were thought necessary to secure our ends. 

I repaired to New York, and after a careful examination into our 
entire interest, road, lands, &c, &c., Bishop Hughes made arrange- 
ments to fill the place of the vacant Bishopric till the new appoint- 
ment, and made the necessary advances in funds. But who can 
foresee difficulties. No sooner did Bishop Hughes begin to pay out 
money for the advancement of the Ocmulgee and Flint B-ailroad, than 
the entire credit system broke down, and cash was demanded for 
everything. And I here again come to the main subject of this letter, 
our lands, and the test of their value. I have before stated that Dr. 



(24) 

Northrop, a brother of the lawyer, accompanied me to examine the 
lands, before purchase. This gentlemen had seen much of the terri- 
tory of the United States, and was, therefore, a good judge. After 
a fair examination, which lasted some weeks, Dr. Northrop came to 
the conclusion to sanction the purchase, but only on the supposition 
that they should be occupied by persons who could take every ad- 
vantage of the resources of the country, — grazing, timber- cutting, 
turpentine- curing, and such other appointments, as would give the 
settlers time to prepare as farmers for improving the lands by severe 
eulture. £>r. Northrop believed that the lands would never come 
into, what we call, the negro market, — never be opened by slave 
labour. As this had never been our object, we purchased, as I before 
stated, with his approbation, and after full examination had personally. 
But a second scrutiny must be instituted at the point at which I left 
the history of the road. Bishop Hughes's aid having proved injurious> 
the next step was to organise a Colonization Company, and take up 
at certain prices such portions of the land as would provide adequate 
funds for the prosecution of the road. This was done in Philadelphia, 
and here, a most careful agent appointed, by the persons constituting 
the embryo Company, to visit Irwin County in the very midst of 
summer for the purpose of examining it with its various crops on 
the ground, and in fact all such subjects as would enter into the 
interests of a colony. But they were more particular still; the agent 
was selected from their most experienced railroad contractors— an 
£rish farmer originally — and he was to report upon the character of 
the road leading through the lands, as well as the lands themselves. 
This old gentleman spent about a week in the country, visited a dozen 
farms, and put a hundred questions On his return to Philadelphia^ 
his report was as favourable as was required, and nothing could 
have prevented the operation proposed^ but the entire rupture of the 
Company, which took place at the time, or even before he reached 
Philadelphia. A false report was put in circulation that they (the 
Irish labourers) were to lose the road by a sale by the Company, and 
a general row took place. The party who wanted to dispel the Irish — 
a railroad company who thought that they could buy the **oad for a 



(25) 

song — and who made the report, failed of their object, but we were 
no better-off. All operations were suspended, and the enterprise re- 
garded a failure. It has remained so till now. 

Now, Sir, I have given you a full account of the whole enterprise 
in which you and your friends are embarked. You know now who 
I am; how I came to engage in the work; what it proposes to accom- 
plish,* how the lands were purchased by us and our object; how they 
were examined before purchase, and what was the opinion; how 
they were a second time examined, and the result; and you are privy 
to the cause of our failure to complete the road, and settle the lands 
ourselves. 

So much before placing the business of the lands in your hands, 
or before any interest was taken in them by Bishop Reynolds, who 
placed them in your hands. When this able Ecclesiastic took charge 
of our diocese {after the entire failure of the enterprise) I waited on 
him and submitted the case of our Irish labourers, who were deprived 
of their earnings and prospects in life, — earnings wrought for, and 
prospects indulged in for three years, and closed by proposing to make 
the Church a part owner of our landed interest, and to sell him such 
a remaining portion as would repay him for the trouble he would be 
placed-at to put us upon our feet again. Bishop Reynolds entered, 
as a third Bishop, into the examination of the question, and after full 
deliberation, made the purchase on his own part, settled the property 
on the Church, and, before he left for Europe, satisfied himself of the 
entire subject by inquiries from such as had been employed with us on 
the road, and were fully acquainted with the lands, the health of the 
country, and opinion of the means. 

This brings me thus to the point, when I trust that I have a right 
to criticise the letter written by Mr. Smyth's agent, Mr. Mulhern.* 
But let the criticism grow out of what is here put down as the 

* This alludes to the letter of Mulhern, a labouring man, who, with his wife 
and three or four others, were sent out by Mr. Smyth, of Publin, the purchaser 
of 1000 acres of lands. Mulhern's great complaint was, — no communication, no 
public roads, and the few inhabitants he saw looked like savages, or Wild Indians; 
further, " their chief food is Indian corn bread, bact.ii, and coffee without sugar/* 
He finished by saying, "I don't think that sort of food will agioe with Irish 
women, that is so fond of sweet tea/' 



(26) 

faithful history of the country. 1st. We did ourselves occupy the 
country? and for nearly four years. We were an hundred — a goodly 
colony. During that time not a physician visited the work; we had 
I think seven children born on it during the time, and no finer chil- 
dren could have been furnished in any country. Our men were 
perfectly satisfied to make it their homes for life, and the completion 
of the road would have given us one hundred farms, opened the first 
year. Nor were these the mere labouring Irish; — -Bishop England sent 
out at least forty, with their families, many of them from among the 
genteelest of Charleston; Bishop Hughes sent out as many as twenty 
from New York, most mechanics, and we invariably found the most 
intelligent, the most sanguine of their future occupation of the entire 
country. The man Dumphy, whom it is contended, would not go back 
on any pretence, Was one of our labourers, and did go hack the week 
after Mulhern returned, with Nealon and party and is now absent; 
and more, while Mulhern was in Charleston, he, Dumphy, endeavoured 
to purchase a lot adjoining Mulhern's intending if they returned to 
become a settler with them. This, Dumphy told me before Mulhern, 
and not only Dumphy, but most of the men who worked on the road 
would hasten back and settle there if put in operation again. As to 
the occupancy of the squatter, who might have built on the ot 
Smyth purchased, that was nothing. I told him- — Mulhern — to go 
to Mr. Northrop, and as a lawyer, he would furnish Dumphy with 
papers to eject him — the squatter — on the instant, 

As to the appearance of the people, and their cows and hogs, I can 
only say that they are the spontaneous growth of the country. For 
twenty-one years before we entered the country they had been living 
with the Indians and had imbibed most of their singular habits. 
They say little, despise to be encroached upon by settlement, live on 
their flocks, and, as you may suppose, exhibit many of the traits of 
the savage. But on this ground, did we not live among them for 
nearly four years? Did not some five or six of our best young Irish- 
men marry their daughters? Did they not, many of them, become 
warm friends of our Irish people, and when our roadbroke-up, showed 
them much sympathy? I will confess that these were exceptions, for 



(27) 

as I said, the great majority despise the idea of having settlers encroach 
upon them, and when the road was in danger, threw their weight in 
the scale against it. And this, Sir, is the great cause why all those 
who visit Irwin County must not for an instant, listen to the people in 
their descriptions of the country. 

I will go further on this head, Sir, and here I must beg you to hear 
me distinctly; — Savannah is our dire enemy. She owns the great 
central road of Georgia, and our road is in direct conflict with it.— - 
Our river debouches in a noble bay, (Sapello) far superior for trade 
to her's, and she is afraid of the country, laying to the south-west of 
the State, being opened out before her central road has topped it with 
its branches, which she is now attempting to do. It is a matter of 
history that Savannah was instrumental in the reports that broke up 
our road, and so long as your people write from there, you may 
expect to hear all that can be urged against Irwin county; I do not 
even except Father O'Neal, who is straining every nerve to settle a 
colony on the line of road of which I first spoke — the Cherokee 
country. But these are mere trifles to an enterprise which asks 
nothing of any interest but its own. — Irwin county, in a word, is 
destined to be the great "White workshop, to make up the raw 
material that is grown by the plantations around it, for a scope of 
300 miles, and on a district of malaria country whose soil is not sur- 
passed by any in the world. Hundreds of thousands of bales of 
cotton are now made on these plantations by the slaves who can 
alone work on the malaria soil ? and all this cotton must be worked up 
in Irwin county, which belongs to the extreme end of the blue ridge 
spurs, 300 feet above the malaria plantations, and offering the 
healthiest settlement in the world for white colonies of cotton manu- 
facturers. You may not be keeping pace with the march of cotton 
factory on this side of the Atlantic, but it is distinctly as follows. 
By the force of our tariffs passed by Congress, such encouragement was 
given to the Eastern States that they have been enabled to take from 
your English mills some 600,000 bales of the raw Soutkern staple. 
Out of this work they make at least two prices more than we make 
©n the raw staple itself- and with this increase to their means, are in- 



(28 

creasing rapidly their population, for you know that population follows 
capital. The effect of this increase is felt in Congress, and the great 
balance of political power is being injured by it. This has alarmed 
the Southern States, and they are determined, if the working-up of 
the cotton staple is to be effected in this country, it shall yield its 
profit to the section in which the cotton grows. Besides, from the 
saving on transportation to the foreign factories, they find that they 
can produce the wrought material much cheaper, and are therefore 
urged forward by the double inducement of gain and political policy. 
In this new order of things the State of Georgia has taken the lead, 
and we already boast in this Southern State to have settled the policy. 
Within the last three years she has banked up her rivers at the heads 
of Steam navigation (the points above referred to) and, in Columbus, 
on the Chattahoochee river, for example, has now at least a half dozen 
of the noblest factories for cotton. On this ground I plant the great 
importance of the extremity of the great blue ridge chain of mountains 
in Irwin county. It is reduced here to a compass of some 60 miles, 
and for three hundred around, is in the neighbourhood of the richest 
land in the world — the rotten limestone of the south, or malaria 
district. It is here that the best cotton (raw) can be always got, and 
where it can be worked-up with perfect impunity by English, Scotch, 
or Irish factory labourers; its blue ridge mountain character, render- 
ing it perfectly healthy for them, while the surrounding rich lands 
produce the raw staple by negro labour. This is the view, Sir, which 
should be entertained by any Colonization Company acting on the lands 
of Irwin county. I am aware that your capitalists may demur at this 
sort of colonization, in direct opposition, as it would seem, to their own 
English interest which now works-up this cotton; but let me refer you 
to your own history. In the time of Cromwell, England was situated 
to Holland as we are now to you. She (England) determined to 
work w ; th machinery herself, and in a few years, Holland was glad 
to make any compromise, but too late, — only those who saw the 
power of the little Island in the sea, and transferred their interest to 
her, saved themselves. It is so now with us. The sectional jealousy 
of the American states is beginning to exhibit itself on the score of 



(29) 

comparative wealth, and this jealousy will induce them to spare no 
expense to eclipse each other. On the part of the south, the chance 
of success turns on the raw staple cotton being grown and manu- 
factured by her, and the south is determined to improve this chance 
to the uttermost. Let me here refer you for illustration to your 
own section, Scotland. She was rich in wool as a raw staple, and by 
importing machinery into Glasgow, Aberdeen, Inverness, &c, see 
how rapidly she developed their importance and her own in the scale 
of nations. 

In view of these truths I would advise you to look on the value of 
Irwin county. Mr Northrop wrote to you as to the safety — the greater 
safety of European capital vested in south than north, from the 
firm character of our Agricultural interests. "Worked by negroes, 
who can alone stand the climate of the richer soils; the proprietors 
of these soils, or planters, with our slave organisation, are like your 
hereditary nobility of England; they constitute, as Lord Wellington 
once said, " a well organised army, to keep down mobs, revolutions of 
all kinds, and as long as they exist, England is safe." So say we of the 
South. But you will *ask, What! establish cotton factories at once? 
Why we cannot command capital. Not so. In spite of Mulhern's 
remonstrance against coffee without sugar, I will say that Irwin 
county with due care is one^of the best sugar-cane countries I know; 
and he must be a poor squatter even, who does not raise his field of 
cane, — and they do do it. Now in view of this crop, I would pre- 
pare for erecting at each point on the road, adapted for villages, a 
sugar factory (price about 2000 dols.) Here the cane of the country 
(now made) would be hauled for grinding and boiling, a process, not 
understood by the people generally. The pine timber of Irwin county 
is celebrated for its turpentine; I would have at each village a turpen- 
tine factory, (price 1200 dols.) This is an interesting business, and 
with the road for transportation (but even without) would be a 
handsome interest. But the people around haul their grain sometimes 
forty miles to be ground. These factories could have attached to 
them grinding stones, &c. But I mean merely to show how the factory 
character could be at once introduced, and thus gradually prepare for 



(30) 

cotton operations. Again, I said that the people of Irwin County 
traded to a little town, Hawkinsville, some twenty miles from the 
road (I find by the map that it is a little more? but I did not direct 
emigrants to go to Irwin by way of Hawkinsville ; it is quite above 
the county, and, by the bye, Dumphy told Mulhern this before leaving 
Savannah, but he persisted that the direction said so, and started for 
Hawkinsville) j— I would advise in view of this trading so far, that 
capital in goods be provided at the road villages above referred to. 
This would yield a handsome profit from the surrounding country, 
and tend greatly to build up the villages. Of course this trade would 
be limited, for as Mr. Mulhern says, there are but a few people, some 
300. Truly ! Did he come here to find an overstocked country, or an 
unoccupied one that he might settle? If the former, he will be mis- 
taken. We offer none such. We offer a high, dry, Virgin soil, not 
rich to Kill, as the neighbouring malaria country is (I have known 
40 German families die in one summer in attempting to settle our 
richest land), but rich enough to make a lovely farming country. If it 
has sand, it has clay and lime also, and industry will make manure 
but I must end. 

I have written with a free pen, Sir, but I felt that the character of 
myself and those, too sacred to be tampered with, was assailed, and 
I deemed this full excuse. With sentiments of great regard, 

Your obedient servant, 

Richard Keily Esq. A. H. BRISBANE. 



I have I trust satisfactorily shewn by the preceding observations, 
by the statistical report of Mr. Macgregor, one of the present re- 
presentatives of Glasgow in Parliament, by the extracts from the 
pamphlet of Mr. Hoffman and by the reports of General Brisbane, 
both the latter being citizens of the United States and gentlemen of 
acknowledged and undoubted honour, that the prejudice respecting 
the insalubrity of the climate of the southern states is partly unfounded, 
and where it exists is confined to particular localities well known 
and easily avoided. In regard to the salubrity of the climate of Irwin 



(31) 

County, in that portion of Georgia wherein is situated the land now- 
offered for sale, no doubt exists; its healthful character is that which 
invariably belongs to elevated table land in temperate latitudes, and 
is vouched for by the concurrent testimony of persons who have long 
been residents, of purchasers who have visited the district, and of 
the agent sent out to inspect and report upon it. Convinced by all 
this evidence, I do not hesitate to recommend the situation and posi- 
tion as most desirable for the settlement of a large colony. It is true, 
as General Brisbane says, " the land is not rich to kill, but it is rich 
enough to make a lovely farming country," and in point of geogra- 
phical position (equi-distant and accessible from the Atlantic and 
Gulf of Mexico) not surpassed by any in the United States, 
i At the same time I cannot conceal from myself the futility of 
attempting to locate a few isolated families, a fact I have fully 
proved by the experience of the last year. The emigrants who 
were purchasers of land, unreasonably fearful on their arrival of 
being deprived of some of the comforts and conveniences which 
habit had made necessary to them at home, and without pausing 
to consider the ample substitutes which a new country affords, 
in opening a comparatively easy road to independence, were dis- 
pleased with everything, even with their newly purchased lands, 
before they had seen them, although they had the privilege of 
choosing, in lieu of those purchases, any other lots more suitable to 
their interests, through a length of 60 and a breadth of 20 miles 
of territory. Influenced by the feelings I have referred to, and 
alarmed by the exaggerated and interested representations of parties* 

* The citizens of Savannah, in particular, regardless of the welfare of the State 
at large, when their own narrow and selfish interests are concerned, lose no op- 
portunity of giving currency to reports however unfounded, calculated to impress 
a stranger with the belief that the lands in Irwin County are valueless, and the 
whole scheme of attempting to found a colony there perfectly impracticable. 
This is easily accounted for. The settlement of the lands will necessarily and at 
an early period secure the completion of the railroad between the Ocmulgee and 
Elint Rivers, and thus open an uninterrupted line of internal communication 
between the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico. This railroad will materially interfere 
with the Georgian Railroad, in which most of the Savannah people have invested 
capital. Hinc ilke lachrymal!! 



(32) 

hostile to the proposed colony, they never availed themselves of these 
privileges. Such representations will always influence isolated settlers, 
who are prone to listen on landing to the accounts they receive, and 
mould their impressions accordingly without testing their truth or 
falsehood. The only remedy for this is, the adoption of the German 
system of emigrating in bodies of at least 50 or 100 families, who, on 
their arrival at the port of debarcation, at once proceed to their 
location, found a township or village, form a community amongst 
themselves, where they can talk of " Father land," and by social in- 
tercourse, banish from their dwellings the " Spirit of Loneliness" 
which haunts the solitary emigrant in the wild districts of foreign 
lands. This desirable consummation can only be effected by a well 
organized company, with a capital sufficiently large to secure the 
facilities and advantages, of a regular system of emigration to the 
honest and industrial classes, from which their own limited resources 
would otherwise preclude them. 

Those friends in America whom I have the honour to represent, 
concur m the propriety and recognise the necessity of forming such 
a company. I shall therefore in accordance with their wishes be most 
happy to co-operate with any gentlemen in effecting this object, being 
well assured that union is strength, and that it is only by the com- 
bined energy and exertions of the many, the difficulties attending an 
infant colony can be successfully combated and eventually overcome. 

RICHARD KEILY, 
1, Royal Exchange Buildings, 

London. 



J. Carrall, Printer, 275, Strand, London. 



Library of Congress 
Branch Bindery, 1902 




014 418 9061 



